/pdf/enhancing-our-lives-with-immersive-virtual-reality-496gj7y20r.pdf

Enhancing Our Lives with Immersive Virtual Reality

Competition changes the environment for athletes. The difficulty of training for such stressful events can lead to the well-known effect of 'choking' under pressure, which prevents athletes from performing at their best level. To studying the effect of competition on the human brain, we recorded pilot electroencephalography (EEG) data while novice shooters were immersed in a realistic virtual environment representing a shooting range. We found a differential between-subject effect of competition on mu [8-12 Hz] oscillatory activity during aiming; compared to training, the more the subject was able to desynchronize his mu rhythm during competition, the better was his shooting performance. Because this differential effect could not be explained by differences in simple measures of the kinematics and muscular activity, nor by the effect of competition or shooting performance per se, we interpret our results as evidence that mu desynchronization has a positive effect on performance during competition

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Novice Shooters With Lower Pre-shooting Alpha Power Have Better Performance During Competition in a Virtual Reality Scenario

Athletes need excellent vision to perform well in their sports, and many athletes have turned to vision training programs as a way to augment their traditional training regimen. The growing practic...

Sports vision training: A review of the state-of-the-art in digital training techniques

In Virtual Reality (VR) it is possible to induce illusions in which users report and behave as if they have entered into altered situations and identities. The effect can be robust enough for participants to respond “realistically”, meaning behaviors are altered as if subjects had been exposed to the scenarios in reality. The circumstances in which such VR illusions take place were first introduced in the 80’s. Since then, rigorous empirical evidence has explored a wide set of illusory experiences in VR. Here we compile this research and propose a neuroscientific model explaining the underlying perceptual and cognitive mechanisms that enable illusions in VR. Furthermore, we describe the minimum instrumentation requirements to support illusory experiences in VR, and discuss the importance and shortcomings of the generic model.

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Model of Illusions and Virtual Reality.

This paper proposes a wearable monitoring system for inspection in the framework of Industry 4.0. The instrument integrates augmented reality (AR) glasses with a noninvasive single-channel brain–computer interface (BCI), which replaces the classical input interface of AR platforms. Steady-state visually evoked potentials (SSVEP) are measured by a single-channel electroencephalography (EEG) and simple power spectral density analysis. The visual stimuli for SSVEP elicitation are provided by AR glasses while displaying the inspection information. The real-time metrological performance of the BCI is assessed by the receiver operating characteristic curve on the experimental data from 20 subjects. The characterization was carried out by considering stimulation times from 10.0 down to 2.0 s. The thresholds for the classification were found to be dependent on the subject and the obtained average accuracy goes from 98.9% at 10.0 s to 81.1% at 2.0 s. An inspection case study of the integrated AR-BCI device shows encouraging accuracy of about 80% of lab values.

A Wearable Brain–Computer Interface Instrument for Augmented Reality-Based Inspection in Industry 4.0

In this paper, we investigate obstacle avoidance behavior during real walking in a large immersive projection setup. We analyze the walking behavior of users when avoiding real and virtual static obstacles. In order to generalize our study, we consider both anthropomorphic and inanimate objects, each having his virtual and real counterpart. The results showed that users exhibit different locomotion behaviors in the presence of real and virtual obstacles, and in the presence of anthropomorphic and inanimate objects. Precisely, the results showed a decrease of walking speed as well as an increase of the clearance distance (i. e., the minimal distance between the walker and the obstacle) when facing virtual obstacles compared to real ones. Moreover, our results suggest that users act differently due to their perception of the obstacle: users keep more distance when the obstacle is anthropomorphic compared to an inanimate object and when the orientation of anthropomorphic obstacle is from the profile compared to a front position. We discuss implications on future large shared immersive projection spaces.

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Virtual proxemics: Locomotion in the presence of obstacles in large immersive projection environments

Athletes' performances are influenced by internal and external factors, including their psychological state and environmental factors, especially during competition. As a consequence, current training programs include stress management. In this paper, we explore whether highly immersive systems can be used for such training programs. First, we propose methodological guidelines to design sport training scenarios both on considering the elements that a training routine must have, and how external factors might influence the participant. The proposed guidelines are based on Flow and social-evaluative threat theories. Second, to illustrate and validate our methodology, we designed an experimental setup reproducing a ten meter Olympic pistol shooting. We analyzed whether changes in the environment are able to induce changes in user performance, physiological responses and the subjective perception of the task. The simulation included stressors in order to raise a social-evaluative threat, such as aggressive public behavior or unforced errors, increasing the pressure while performing the task. The results showed significant differences in their subjective impressions, trends in the behavioral and physiological data were also observed. Taken together, our results suggest that highly immersive systems could be further used for training in sports.

/pdf/a-methodology-for-introducing-competitive-anxiety-and-2bz7hg7qa3.pdf

A Methodology for Introducing Competitive Anxiety and Pressure in VR Sports Training

This paper reviews the state of the art of using Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) in combination with Augmented Reality (AR). First it introduces the field of AR and its main concepts. Second, it describes the various systems designed so far combining AR and BCI categorized by their application field: medicine, robotics, home automation and brain activity visualization. Finally, it summarizes and discusses the results of the study.

https://hal.inria.fr/hal-01625167/document

Brain-Computer Interfaces and Augmented Reality: A State of the Art

The role of haptic feedback on virtual embodiment is investigated in this paper in a context of active and fine manipulation.
In particular, we explore which haptic cue, with varying ecological validity, has more influence on virtual embodiment.
We conducted a within-subject experiment with 24 participants and compared self-reported embodiment over a humanoid avatar during a coloring task under three conditions: force-feedback, vibrotactile feedback, no haptic feedback.
In the experiment, force-feedback was more ecological as it matched reality more closely, while vibrotactile feedback was more symbolic.
Taken together, our results show significant superiority of force-feedback over no haptic feedback regarding embodiment, and significant superiority of force-feedback over the other two conditions regarding subjective performance.
Those results suggest that a more ecological feedback is better suited to elicit embodiment during fine manipulation tasks.

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Studying the Role of Haptic Feedback on Virtual Embodiment in a Drawing Task

Avatars, the users’ virtual representations, are becoming ubiquitous in virtual reality applications. In this context, the avatar becomes the medium which enables users to manipulate objects in the virtual environment. It also becomes the users’ main spatial reference, which can not only alter their interaction with the virtual environment, but also the perception of themselves. In this paper, we review and analyse the current state-of-the-art for 3D object manipulation and the sense of embodiment. Our analysis is twofold. First, we discuss the impact that the avatar can have on object manipulation. Second, we discuss how the different components of a manipulation technique (i.e. input, control and feedback) can influence the user’s sense of embodiment. Throughout the analysis, we crystallise our discussion with practical guidelines for VR application designers and we propose several research topics towards “avatar-friendly’’ manipulation techniques.

Ferran Argelaguet Sanz

Papers

Virtual proxemics: Locomotion in the presence of obstacles in large immersive projection environments

A Methodology for Introducing Competitive Anxiety and Pressure in VR Sports Training

Brain-Computer Interfaces and Augmented Reality: A State of the Art

Studying the Role of Haptic Feedback on Virtual Embodiment in a Drawing Task

Towards “Avatar-Friendly” 3D Manipulation Techniques: Bridging the Gap Between Sense of Embodiment and Interaction in Virtual Reality